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Crusade of Endless Joy
Glory to Slaanesh! The Crusade of Endless Joy is a warband of Emperor's Children Chaos Space Marines, who have terrorized the galaxy and fought against the Imperium in their Heresy-era Strike Cruiser, the Endless Joy, for most of the last 10,000 years, though far less in subjective time. They are often aided by Slaanesh Daemons, often led by Cetabel, Liaison Herald from Slaanesh to the Crusade of Endless Joy. Belus IV Campaign Status Conquest Points: 10 Quest Tokens: 0 Power Level: 90 Controlled Sectors: # Babylon (Throne) 50 # Screamy Slaves (Agri) 10 # Bendy Slaves (Agri) 10 # Tasty Slaves (Agri) 10 # Silk Kingdoms (Quest) Chapterly Quest Token Rolls # Fleshmetal Forge (Forge) 5 # Triumph of Slaanesh (Hive) Slaanesh Detachment # Emperor's End (Hive) 10 # Zelamine Statue (Shrine) Extra force org slot Events of Chapter 1 Prologue and Arrival in Belus System * After their victories supporting Abbadon's 13th Black Crusade (see the Recent History section below), and the still fresh apotheosis of Princess Zelamine, the Crusade of Endless Joy returned to their fortress on the Daemon World Harmony inside the Eye of Terror, and spent several months resting, refitting, and partying with their spoils. One night, when preparations for their next raid on the Imperium were nearing completion, Cetabel (Liaison Herald of Slaanesh to the Crusade) told Zelamine that it was Slaanesh's will that the Crusade of Endless Joy journey through the Warp to the planet Belus IV in the Hades sub-sector, and aid their Heretic Astartes brethren in the overthrow of the False Emperor's puppets there. The Crusade set about this task with all possible haste. * Upon arrival in the Belus system, the Strike Cruiser Endless Joy dropped the Crusade off on the surface of Belus IV, and departed to secure the system and engage enemy void elements. The Crusade promptly conquered some outlying sectors to set up a base and guarantee a steady supply of slaves and drugs (the Crusade runs on slaves and drugs, much like ancient armies ran on bread and diesel). Zelamine named their new base Babylon, and promised that the wildest parties on the planet would happen there, with the best slaves and drugs from all corners of the world, and that they would soon have sport with some of the most elite servants of the Corpse Emperor. * With her supply of slaves and drugs secure (priorities), Zelamine joined her brother chaos lords in war council to scheme upon the downfall of the loyalists, and requested the honor of the first proper attack. So it was granted that the first pitched battle on Belus IV would see a mechanized column on the Crusade engage the forces of the Imperium. The mechanized column set out from Babylon, in search of the enemy. Battle for the Silk Kingdoms * Cetabel (Liaison Herald of Slaanesh to the Crusade) appeared to Zelamine, and informed her that an Exhumation Necroclade of Mechanicus were nearby, and that they were investigating some particularly choice slave markets, perhaps looking for spare parts. Zelamine knew that the Crusade HAD to control the greatest flesh market on the planet, and that the Crusade would be unstoppable in their fight to lay hands on the best slaves that the Drukhari had brought to Belus IV from all over the Hades sub-sector. * The mechanized column approached the Silk Kingdoms, with Zelamine flying above to scout ahead. She spotted the Necroclade Mechanicus force in a blocking position, taking cover in ruins and craters outside the slave markets, probably alerted to the approach of the Crusade's armored vehicles by some Mechanicus techno-trickery. Zelamine ordered the noise marines to dismount, and form up for assault on the Necroclade's line. * The noise marines crept forward through a ruin, and unleashed a volley of sonic destruction that shredded and totally annihilated the forward skirmish line of vanguard skitari. The Land Raider drove around the ruin, behind the rhinos speeding ahead with their cargo of assault noise marines and plasma chosen, and some of it's LasCannons managed to hit the mechanicus tank, but the damage was superficial, and quickly repaired by the Mordri dominus. * The kataphrons and Onager concentrated their fire on the rhino carrying the plasma chosen, which had perhaps unwisely separated from the main Crusade assault, and it was destroyed by torsion and plasma fire. To make matters worse, a Sydonian Dragoon emerged from where it had been hiding in the ruins, but the plasma chosen scurried back behind the wrecked rhino and avoided being immediately charged by the fearsome walker. To the surprise of everyone on the battlefield, ten noise marines fell in the initial volley of mechanicus shooting. The opening phase of the battle had gone poorly, but Zelamine was optimistic, and knew that the tables would soon turn, as the Crusade had closed to assault range with the enemy. * Seeing the critical plasma chosen in trouble, without the protection of their rhino and threatened by the dragoon, Zelamine flew to their aid, rallied their spirits, and led their charge into the Dragoon and the kataphron destroyers on the near flank of the mechanicus line. Zelamine tore the rider from the dragoon into ribbons and smashed the abominable machine into scrap. The plasma chosen were less effective in their charge, but they did engage the kataphrons, and before charging had let loose a volley of overcharged plasma that (combined with the LasCannon fire from the the Land Raider) destroyed the Onager Dunecrawler. * On the other flank, the assault noise marines poured out of their rhino and into the kataphron breachers, destroying one of the armored servitors, and locking them into combat. At this moment, the battle seemed to have turned back to favor the Crusade, but it almost all came to ruin as this was the moment when the Dominus Mordri's trap was sprung! * Sicarian Infiltrators popped out of the ground on the right flank, and annihilated the remaining Plasma Chosen in a withering hail of flechettes! On the left flank, a Terrex-pattern Termite Assault Drill emerged and disgorged a large squad of RustWraiths. * Fortunately for the Crusade of Endless Joy, all these newly arriving forces hesitated upon arrival, perhaps unfamiliar with the new drill, giving the Crusade a chance to strike as they were forming up to charge. The five CombiPlasma&ChainFist terminators finally disembarked from the land raider, and charged into the RustWraiths, firing a seemingly-endless cacophonous volley of plasma bolts and then dismembering the gruesome cyborgs with their chainfists. The land raider's lasCannons made surprisingly short work of the Termite drill, leaving the left flank secure. * On the right flank, the remaining empty rhino moved into a blocking position to defend Princess Zelamine from the newly arrived Sicarian Infiltrators, but rather than slaw them as she longed to do, there being almost no finer prey for her talons than Sicarians, Zelamine knew that the time had come to end the battle, and flew directly into Combat with the Dominus Mordri, and used her duellist skills to tear him into bloody chunks of scrap and gore with her finely balanced malefic talons. * With the battle won, the survivors of the armored column gathered up their wounded, took the wrecked rhino under tow, and mounted up to drive into the Silk Kingdoms. There they enjoyed the sort of fantabulously horrific party that only victorious Emperor's Children in a freshly conquered Drukhari slave market can throw. It was not pretty, and very messy, but Slaanesh was deeply pleased. They did not notice most of the bloody and smashed bits of the slain mechanicus forces dragging each other off the battle field and back to Imperium territory. Battle of Fleshmetal Forge * After a week of excess and revels in the newly conquered Silk Kingdoms, the strike force of the Crusade planned to move out and secure a nearby forge sector. The land raider and terminators were left to garrison the Silk Kingdoms, but fearful of being ambushed, Zelamine decided to raise a levy of ablative cultists. 36 (6 x 6) mortals were chosen by the Noise Marines, and brought before Zelamine, in the former Archon's luxurious quarters on top of the Ziggurat. There she addressed them and brought them into the service of Slaanesh: * "You have seen the power of Slaanesh in how easily we conquered you and your former Drukhari masters, and how even the mightiest warriors of the Corpse Emperor cannot stand before us. Today I offer you a chance to join us in our Crusade, but more importantly to join Slaanesh! I am not offering you a chance at an easy or long life: I am certain that none of you will live to see the end of this campaign. Most likely your mortal bodies will be blasted apart in a hail of explosive bolter fire. BUT, I can promise you three things, and I am confident that after hearing these three promises, that all of you will eagerly join our crusade! First, when you are slain by the enemy, you will feel only joy and ecstasy! Slaanesh knows that mortal men desire pleasure and fear pain, and so she will ease your passage with her delightful agonies, and the transcendent pleasure you experience upon your death will put all your joys before today to shame. Second, after you are slain by the enemy, your soul and energies will join with the warp, as it is for all mortals...but if you take my offer today, your souls will endure and continue as parts of Slaanesh, and you will be one with our God! Slaanesh rewards those who serve her, and the highest rewards go to those who sacrifice the most for her. You cannot imagine the pleasures and glories that await, for martyrs who die on the battlefield fighting for the glory of Slaanesh, but I can tell you from experience that they are sweet beyond measure. Third and lastly, you need not have the patience and faith to wait until martyrdom to enjoy the rewards that Slaanesh offers you! If you accept my offer, then starting tonight you will know six nights and six days of the most exquisite pleasures! Beautiful daemons made solely for your pleasure will show you joys and experiences not of this world, a generous taste of the ecstatic eternity that lies in store for you as a servant of Slaanesh!" * With her fresh levy of cultists, Zelamine brought the armored column to the Fleshmetal forge, and with the aid of the Infernal Enrapturess Vess'aile, used dark sorcery and the power of the warp to bind a troop of Obliterators into her service. Dark clouds and unnatural lightning gathered overhead. Cetabel appeared and warned Zelamine that the fearsome daemon hunters of the Grey Knights were scrying this place, and would soon launch an attack. Zelamine took seriously the threat of the Emperor's finest, and wasted no time fortifying a sturdy and elevated area of the Forge. * The summoning and binding of the obliterators, combined with the deep and continuous scrying of the Grey Knights, and the coming and going of Vess'aile and Cetabel had temporarily weakened the walls of reality at the Forge, and a Warp Storm brewed up. This unusual weather favored the coming Grey Knights, as it increased the effects of their psychic powers, but it also increased the perils of the warp, which Vess'aile could turn to her advantage as the Discordant Disruption from her flesh harp made the warp slippery and harder to control, easier to suffer perils. * The warp storm covered the forge in darkness, and in that Darkness the Grey Knights teleported in, executing a skillful concealed approach. Still concealed, the advance elements of the GK attack dug in. The swirling warp energy parted and the GrandMaster could see the Obliterators on their elevated platfrom, surrounded by cultists. He charged forward and the attack began. * A strike squad stepped through the Infinity Gate, and into elevated positions looking down over the cultist screen, and across the gap to Zelamine surround by obliterators on their platform. The DreadKnight charged forward, and the other strike squad stayed in their dug in positions, from which they could rapid fire bolts into the cultists. * Just as Zelamine had predicted, the entire front line of cultists were blown into large chunks of bloody gore by a flurry of bolter fire from the strike squad above them, and from the strike squad they could barely see through the swirling warp storm. The GK heavy guns focused on a rhino and the Obliterators, but barely scratched the obliterators, and failed to destroy the rhino. * The plasma chosen got out of the wounded rhino, which pulled back while the chosen rushed forward to get into firing position on the fearsome experimental dreadknight. The strike squad that had gate-stepped into the elevated position opposite the obliterators was surprisingly annihilated by small arms fire from the cultists and a particularly effective smite (perhaps aided by the warp storm) from Zelamine. The Obliterators concentrated their fire on the dreadknight, which together with the fire from the plasma chosen, was enough to force the fearsome war machine to activate it's emergency teleport homer to escape before it could close to melee range. With both the forward threats eliminated, Zelamine felt confident that they could resist the next wave of the attack as well. * Paladins, Terminators, and an apothecary teleported down, and the dug-in strike squad finally moved forward, screening the brother captain. Perhaps unwisely, the Paladins and apothecary attempted to flank the Crusade's position, splitting their forces further, and the brother captain stepped through an infinity gate, moving from his terminators in the front, to his paladins on the flank. A deluge of storm bolter fire rattled off the tough obliterator armor, but the plasma chosen were not so lucky. Caught in the open, most of them were cut down, and the last two were easily felled by the terminator's force halberds. Two obliterators were finally killed by the GK heavy guns, and astrally-aimed lasCannons on the hidden venerable dreadnought. * But the second wave of GK fared little better than the first, with the forward strike squad shot down, a warp-storm-enhanced blast of psychic energy from Zelamine smiting two of the terminators, and the remaining two terminators being handily cut down by Zelamine's malefic talons. The harmonic alignment of Vess'aile's flesh harp pulled one of the slain obliterators back from the warp into reality, and they shot away some of the paladins. The fresh rhino engaged the remaining GK paladins and characters, barely resisting destruction from their thunder hammers. * The GK smote the rhino, but it exploded and weakened the paladins, apothecary, and brother captain. This made clear that the attack had failed, and the remaining GKs emergency-teleported away, narrowly escaping destruction from a volley of Obliterator fire and the dread talons of Zelamine, who warp-timed across the battlefield to duel the brother captain before he fled in terror. * Zelamine was most pleased to have weathered the storm of the GK attack, and saw that the obliterators would be a very powerful tool for conquering Belus IV, and while most of the cultists recruited a week earlier had been killed, those who had survived could now personally testify to the veracity of Zelamine's promises, and would bring ever more cultists into the Love of Slaanesh as the crusade moved on and spread the joyous news. Triumph of Slaanesh * Leading the scouting edge of the armored column, driving onward from the important newly conquered Freshmetal Forge, Zelamine and her column approach a nearby hive city that has been smoldering in discontent. The population of the hive was angry at the rationing and curfew that had been imposed on them by their fearful Imperial rulers, and had been hearing news of the victories and glad tidings of the Crusade of Endless Joy. * Zelamine's persuasive words and undeniable rewards to the civilian population of the planet that flocked to her banner as Chaos Cultists allowed the Crusade to enter the outskirts of the Hive unopposed, with guardsmen and local militia surrendering to her without a fight. The local population swore allegiance to Zelamine and Slaanesh, begged for delights and eternal salvation, and offered to betray the Astartes to the Crusade. * This allowed Zelamine and her armored column to sneak up on and ambush the much smaller contingent of DeathWatch who had been staying nearby. The initial mechanized assault on the Hammers of the Void went well, but things looked grim after the Death Watch inceptors flew down to the aid of their brothers, and the Loyalist Scum cut down most of the NoiseMarines and Chosen and Raptors * But the arrival of the new Fleshmetal Obliterators turned the tide, blasting away the rest of the Dreadnoughts and almost all of the Inceptors! Once again Zelamine charged in for the personal Warlord kill, to better know her enemies, but once again her cowardly opposite number was able to flee to safety after distracting her with an extra round of attacks when she thought he was slain. * The newly conquered Hive City was renamed Triumph of Slaanesh by it's freshly-converted cultist population, who promptly joined the Crusade in a Hive-Wide Celebratory Apres-Revolution Party that was so epically wicked that it opened a portal to the Warp from which Slaanesh Daemons emerged and joined the Hive-Wide orgy/party. Imperium Alliance Retaking of the Fleshmetal Forge * The Blade of the Whills had been driven back from their first attack on the Fleshmetal Forge, in a battle in a raging warp storm against seemingly invincible new Obliterators, with their Fleshmetal Weapons always changing to be whatever that moment of battle called for, they had nearly killed the Chapter Master and humbled the Experimental Dreadknight Exoskeleton Suit. * The Blade of the Whills Grey Knights detected the contingent of the Hammers of the Void Death Watch who had been betrayed by their local population at the Hive City, now calling itself Triumph of Slaanesh, where they were ambushed by the Crusade of Endless Joy , and routed most gruesomely. The Crusade had chased them at the head of a seemingly endless tide of dangerously devout and ecstatic cultists, each enthusiastically doing their best to die most gloriously and effectively for Slaanesh. It was horrible, and raised the question of Exterminatus. Was Belus IV lost to Chaos and Slaanesh? * But the Grey Knights noticed a shift of Chaos forces away from the Fleshmetal forge, as all the Emperor's Children wanted to be part of the continuous parties at the recently taken Hive city, and so GrandMaster Aegir coordinated an attack to retake it from the Crusade of Endless Joy. Heavy armor from the DeathWatch including a Land Raider and some heavy dreadnoughts provided the irresistible force that would retake the forge. Zelamine noticed the attack only after it had begun and so teleported back to coordinate the defense herself. * As the Imperium forces formed up for the assault, daemonettes poured out of the Forge and engaged the Deathwatch forces in a spoiling attack. Grey Knights teleported around the battlefield, keeping the Chaos Marines distracted. Astartes casualties were heavy, but the Imperium had bet everything on this battle, and so there were plenty of reinforcements. At the war council before the battle, it had been agreed that if the attack failed, Belus IV would have to be abandoned and cleansed by Exterminatus. * Eventually the Imperial numbers told, and there were too few chaos marines and daemonettes left to hold the forge, so Zelamine and Cetabel escaped into the warp, vowing to return and retake the forge. Battle for the Derelict Space Hulk * A space hulk had drifted into the orbit of Belus IV, emanating strange energy signatures, so many of the factions vying for control of Belus IV launched boading parties to investigate and claim anything of value on board. * Tengen the Terminator Sorceror of the Crusade of Endless Joy, led an elite boarding party, accompanied by the Infernal Enrapturess, some fiends, and daemonettes. The Eyes of Solomon brought a number of Nurgle forces, and had intended to plant a Feculent Gnarlmaw at the heart of the energy anomaly, but the Imperium had gotten there first and seized the better central positions. * Too many cultist followers of Solomon clogged up part of the space hulk, further hindering the Chaos assault. DeathWatch elite squads and Grey Knights teleported around, attacking the flanks of the chaos forces in the narrow passageways. * In the end, the DeathWatch and GreyKnights held the derelict, and the chaos forces were forced to withdraw, leaving the Imperium to claim whatever relics were to be found. An ill omen, if of little strategic significance. Was the tide finally turning for the Imperium? Events of Chapter 2 Prologue for Chapter 2 * Zelamine fumed in her penthouse chambers at the top of the Hive Triumph of Slaanesh. This world ought to belong to her and Slaanesh by now, but her chance to seize it seemed to be slipping through her fingers. First the disaster at the Fleshmetal Forge, and then the embarrassing defeat on the space hulk! * Zelamine prayed to Slaanesh for help and guidance, and her prayers were answered in the form of new abilities and allies. The heretic astartes of the Crusade would Honor the Dark Prince by making more of their charges, and they had new Excruciating Frequencies to which they could set their sonic weapons in order to make their sonic destruction even greater. Cetabel also came in person to answer Zelamine's prayers, riding a Contorted Epitome of unusual power and strength. Cetabel and Zelamine worshipped Slaanesh together in thanks for their gifts, and swore to use them best to seal their conquest of Belus IV. * Reports from her cultist spies suggested that the local Necroclade of Mechanicus forces had gotten a Forge working, and had been seen with a Knight in the field, readying it for battle. Zelamine resolved to break the will and morale of the Imperium forces by smashing their new super weapon before it could contribute meaningfully to the war on Belus IV. Battle with the Knight and The Emperor's End * Imperial citizens, who thought their lives would be easier or at least more fun as cultists of Slaanesh, from a nearby Hive City came to the mortal spies of the Crusade, revealing exactly where on the outskirts of the hive the Necroclade mechanicus forces were conducting field tests with their new Knight. Cetabel and daemonette spies took up concealed positions among the disused buildings, and provided the intelligence that allowed the Crusade of Endless Joy to thoroughly get the drop on them. * This well-recon'd deployment by the very favorable open war cards we drew allowed both big units of 30 daemonettes and the 3 fiends to all make easy first turn charges into the Kataphron breachers and the Neutron Laser tank. Many of the skitarii vanguard were slain before they realized that they were under attack and no longer just conducting field trials with the new Knight. * The Warglaives and the Knight turned to counterattack, but found their heavy-AT armament poorly suited to their foes: their thermal spears could easily vaporize single noise marines, but they didn't have the volume of shots to thin the hoard that beset them. The most successful necroclade unit was the rust wraiths, who annihilated one of the 30-daemonette units over the course of the first 2 turns. * To everyone's surprise, the two warglaives foundered in the tide of daemonettes, getting swarmed and brought down by a sea of claws at their weak points (lots of 6's to wound going to AP -4, bypassing armor saves) * Finally the hammer blow that the Crusade had structured their ambush around fell, as the obliterators came down onto a central roof top that the noise marines had been holding. Zelamine flew to their side, and with a decent volley from their fleshmetal guns, they blasted the Knight to pieces. * On turn 3, it was just mopping up. The Noise Marines on the right used the new Honor the Prince stratagem to make their charge and kill the last Rust Wraith. Zelamine flew and warp-timed her way to the last Dominus of the Necroclade and the lone vanguard skitarii screening him, and personally tore them both to shreds with her malefic talons, with a hoard of daemonettes and Cetabel hot on her heels. This completed the annihilation of the mechanicus force that had been testing the new Knight. * With the battle won, and the Knight destroyed, all in full view of the populace of the Hive City that towered over them, Zelamine and Cetabel appealed to the populace of the hive to join with the Crusade of Endless Joy. Barely any persuasion or proselytizing were required, and the city enthusiastically rebelled against their Imperium authorities. The victorious forces of Cetabel and the Crusade occupied the city, and put down the local militia and arbites forces that tried to resist the revolution. * By nightfall, the flag of the Slaanesh flew over the hive, and a raucous party raged through all levels of the newly liberated city. The people knew hope and joy and freedom of a sort they had never tasted before, and the Love of Slaanesh flowed through them all. The Hive was renamed "Emperor's End", and the glorious liberation of Belus IV seemed close at hand. Assault on the Grey Knight Shrine at the Statue of Sanguinius with Wings Spread * From the former-governor's suites at the pinnacle of the newly conquered Emperor's End Hive, Zelamine noticed that she could see a colossal statue of Sanguinius with spread wings on the horizon. As she spent the day helping the Slaanesh Revolutionary Council put loyal servants of Slaanesh in charge of all the infrastructure of the Hive City, Zelamine thought about the statue, and decided that something must be done. At first, she thought that she would lead the armored column on an expedition to destroy the statue, but that evening she had a better idea. * She asked the Slaanesh Revolutionary Council to find her all the sculptors in the city, and once the sculptors were assembled, she explained to them that they had been chosen for a particularly great symbolic task, which would earn each of them almost as much favor with Slaanesh as would dying a glorious martyr's death. She explained what she intended, and asked them what they would need to alter the statue as she had described. * Some days later, when the appropriate tools and scaffolding had been gathered, the Crusade of Endless Joy loaded up the artists' caravan behind the armored column, along with a full levy of ecstatic armed cultists all eagerly marching to their martyr's deaths. The Slaanesh Revolutionary Councils had directed much of the industrial production of the two Hive Cities towards stamping out more autoguns, but there were still shortages of equipment for arming new brigades of Cultist martyrs. * The number of volunteers for all categories, including battlefield martyrs, now greatly exceeded the needs of the Crusade of Endless Joy. As the Psychic Awakening progressed, more and more psykers were being found, and the Sorcerors of the Crusade worked with Cetabel's daemonette scouts to find and screen the potential witches. The daemonette scouts could sniff out the blossoming minds from across the hive, and once found, the sorcerors evaluated the candidates pliability, loyalty, and aptitudes. Those found wanting were given to the daemonettes as rewarding delicacies, but most were sent to training programs set up by the Slaanesh Revolutionary Councils, which in just a couple weeks would teach them some rudimentary psychic tricks and shape them into "Chosen of Slaanesh", whose job was to go among the people of the hives and use their powers to spread the joys and rewards of Slaanesh. The power of Delights was easily taught and hard to get very wrong, not to mention in endless demand, but more advanced witches learned to heal wounds, detect enemies, and communicate like astropaths. * As the column was beginning to roll out from the Emperor's End hive, Cetabel appeared to Zelamine in front of the volunteers and the citizenry, and offered a warning: she had seen with her scrying and prescience that the Grey Knights would attack Zelamine and her column as they arrived at the base of the colossal statue of Sanguinius. Zelamine thanked Cetabel for the warning, and announced to the assembled people that Slaanesh's glorious herald had warned them of an ambush waiting for them, and that they would change their plan to make sure that the servants of the Corpse God were the ones to find themselves in unexpected peril. * The composition of the expedition was changed slightly, and set out again, only slightly delayed. Zelamine made sure to set a pace such that they would arrive in darkest night, as Cetabel had told her would be optimal for their counter-ambush. As the column neared the colossal statue, which towered over everything for miles around, being many hundreds of feet tall, the Crusade slowed, sent out flankers and scouts, and took up defensive positions. The moonless night was deeply, oppressively dark, and even mech-optics strained to see more than 12 feet away. As they reached the base of the statue, Zelamine called Cetabel to her side for guidance. * Cetabel on her Contorted Epitome materialized out of the warp, along with Vess'aile the Enrapturess, and informed Zelamine that they could see the minds of the psyker Grey Knights through the warp, and that there was a squad of terminators hiding right behind that rock directly ahead. The counter-ambush quickly realigned, and blasted the hiding terminators out from behind their cover in a barrage of psychic smiting and obliterator fire. * This sprung the ambush, and a strike squad stepped through the gate of infinity, onto some ruins from which they could pour rapid bolter fire into the front line of cultists. The volunteer martyrs cheered and laughed as they were blown apart by the explosive bolts, free of fear and sure of their place in the Love of Slaanesh! * The oppressive darkness prevented accurate counter-fire into the strike squad, though psychic smites cleared two of the strike marines. The obliterators got back into the Land Raider, and the heavy hitters of the crusade moved forward into offensive position. * Grandmaster Aegir contemplated his options, and felt that the only rational strategy was to aim directly at a decapitation strike on Zelamine and Cetabel. Accordingly, the paladins, brother captain, apothecary, and both incarnations of Aegir himself all came down directly opposite Zelamine, Cetabel, the sonic dreadnought, the chaos spawn, and the Land Raider full of Obliterators. In true Grey Knight style, ALL the re-rollable charges failed, perhaps awed by the monstrous power before them. At this point the battle was effectively over and the Grey Knights doomed. * The swifft and terrible servants of Slaanesh all surged forward to destroy all the Grey Knight units before them. Obliterator fire cleared all but one of the paladins and the Grandmaster's DreadKnight, and then Cetabel and the Crusade charged in, completely annihilating the leadership of the Grey Knights or forcing them to activate their emergency teleport beacons to escape the wicked claws and talons of the Daemons and dreadnought. All that was left of the ambush was the astral aim dreadnought and a few strike marines who had gate'd to the flank, all of whom fled to regroup. * The threat was vanquished, and the Crusade had secured the base of the enormous statue of Sanguinius. Zelamine and the Crusade helped the tide of enthusiastic cultists set up a defensive perimeter, and the next morning the caravan of sculptors set to work altering the statue of Sanguinius with his angelic wings spread, into a statue of Zelamine with her daemonic wings spread. This colossal statue and the shrine at it's base would serve as notice to all the Imperium citizens left on Belus IV that this world had been liberated from the False Emperor by Zelamine and now belonged to Slaanesh. Defense of the Silk Kingdoms * Some days later, as the march of the forces of Slaanesh continued across the face of Belus IV, DeatchWatch forces planned to strike at the heart of the Slaaneshi empire: the opulent slave markets of the Silk Kingdoms, top priority to the Crusade's war efforts, and the first sector the Crusade of Endless Joy had conquered outside their initial landing zones. * The Hammers of the Void deployed Zelamine, Current Leader of the Crusade Since 003M42, the Crusade has been led by the Daemon Princess Zelamine, Favored of Slaanesh, Mistress of the Strike Cruiser Endless Joy, "Princess Z" to her enemies. Before her apotheosis, Zelamine was known as Lord Telamio, after assuming command of the Crusade when their former leader Lord Octavius was made into a Chaos Spawn as punishment for his lax prosecution of Slaanesh's will (see Previous Leader section below). While Lord Octavius led the crusade for most of the last ten millenia, Telamio served him as an Exalted Champion, and before the heresy he was known as Lieutenant Telamio. Zelamine is a Slaanesh Daemon Princess with Wings, armed with a Warp Bolter and pair of Malefic Talons. She also has the following additional abilities: * Duellist: Add 1 to this model's strength and attacks characteristics while it is within 1" of any enemy characters. * Indomitable: All damage suffered by this model is halved (rounding up). * Finely Balanced: Pick one of the model's melee weapons [Malefic Talons]. Add the following ability to that weapon: 'Each time the bearer fights, it can make 1 additional attack with this weapon.' * Psychic Might: Add 1 to the number of psychic powers this character can attempt to manifest in your Psychic phase. * Master of Lore: Add 1 to the number of psychic powers this model knows from one of the psychic disciplines available to them. * Fleet: Add 2" to this model's Move characteristic. Chaos Lord Telamio was exalted into the Daemon Princess Zelamine as reward for her success and tireless devotion to Slaanesh, made manifest and undeniable upon the destruction of the Blood Raven forces that the Crusade of Endless Joy had been tasked with drawing away from Cadia, as a distraction to aid Abbadon's 13th Black Crusade. Slaanesh knew that s/he had finally found a warlord who could be trusted and relied upon, to tirelessly pursue the enemy and not to slack off onto a years-long bender of self-indulgent hedonism. Newly Exultant Daemon Princess Zelamine stood on the bridge of the Blood Raven command Cruiser, over the freshly slain Captain and Senior Librarian, with whom she had contented for longer than 2 years in real time, and felt the flow and intensity of Slaanesh's Love for her and trust in her. She remembered everything of her previous life as Chaos Lord Telamio, but it felt as if it had all happened to a different person, and she was now a piece of Slaanesh and eternity in a way that Telamio had been pursuing since the ancient days of the Heresy. Every Exalted Champion and Chaos Lord nurtures the dream of apotheosis, and it often sustains them over the Long War, even when the war was going poorly, but apotheosis didn't feel like Telamio had imagined it would, and she didn't feel like she was Telamio. But it did feel impossibly good to be a beautiful and immortal daemon princess, and she was filled with the Joy of the Love of Slaanesh. Cetabel, Liaison Herald of Slaanesh to the Crusade of Endless Joy Cetabel sometimes appears as a foot herald or Vice Leader, but most recently has been granted by Slaanesh a Contorted Epitome to ride into battle. This fearsome mirror magnifies her psychic power, allows a second herald to ride along and act as her bodyguard, and prevents nearby enemies from fleeing. She has the following additional abilities: * Impervious : Regains 1 lost wound at the start of her turn * Razor Edged: The 8 additional herald claw attacks go from AP -1 to AP -2 * Adamantium Will: An extra deny, so she will get 3 denies per turn, all at +1 * Ferocious Combatant: An extra attack with the Piercing Coils of the Epitome Cetabel has been Liaison Herald to the Crusade of Endless Joy since their rebellion from the Emperor early in the Heresy Era, but before that she had been watching humans since not long after the birth of Slaanesh during the fall of the Eldar. Cetabel is a master of understanding human desire, and predicting their irrational actions. Cetabel and her aides watch from the warp, keeping tabs on developments that might be relevant to the Crusade of Endless Joy. When Slaanesh has a particular message or mission for the Crusade, Cetabel delivers it in person, and often aids in it's completion, bringing to the fight both her cohort of immortal Slaanesh Daemons, and the otherworldly knowledge she and her spies gather through their scrying. Early History (Incomplete) The core EC brother marines of the Crusade all fought together in the Heresy, and most of them engaged in ecstatic slaughter during the Drop Site Massacre. On and off sometimes helping Abbadon, always raiding and fighting the Imperium, and occasionally succeeding in making new Daemon Worlds and claiming spoils. Previous Leader From the time that the 29th Company of the Emperor's Children became the Crusade of Endless Joy, until the day when Telamio became lord and master of the Crusade, the Crusade was led by Lord Octavius, formerly Captain Octavius. Octavius was an impressive warlord, and won many great victories for Slaanesh over the course of the Long War; but after leading the Crusade of Endless Joy to a great victory alongside a host of Slaanesh daemons, and opening up a rich industrialized Imperial world for a great ocean of Chaos Daemons and Slaanesh energies to flow out of and forever bringing that world to Chaos,- Octavius deferred the further tasks set upon him by Slaanesh in favor of resting and partying. Specifically, he ordered the Crusade of Endless Joy to fortify their newly conquered world, with the intention of remaining there and ruling over their multiple continents of the trophy world for some decades, feeling that this was the just reward for their success in conquering it. This laziness displeased Slaanesh, and so s/he made Octavius into a Chaos Spawn brightly-colored many-clawed one of my three Spawn, as a lesson to the rest of the crusade that their service to Slaanesh must be unceasing and tireless, and that rewards and rest would come when Slaanesh decreed them, not when the Crusade desired them. Thus began the rule of Chaos Lord Telamio over the Crusade of Endless Joy, and he was most energetic in carrying out his duties. The Three Chaos Spawn of the Crusade of Endless Joy * Former Chaos Lord Octavius, who chose to rest at the wrong time, and whose story is detailed above in the "Previous Leader" section. He is the brightly colored pink and purple chaos spawn with the bug-like head, the one giant claw, and the numerous small claws. Octavius the Chaos Spawn is (obviously) the leader of the Three Chaos Spawn of the Crusade of Endless Joy. Octavious' punishment is eternal, and whenever his mortal chaos spawn body is destroyed, Slaanesh simply remakes him, and Cetabel brings him around the next time she calls on the Crusade. * Former planetary governor of Atraxis IX, Quintus Arkanaus, who betrayed his people and his world into the hands of the Crusade for the promise of pleasure. The Crusade of Endless Joy arrived in orbit around the Imperium Industrial World of Atraxis IX and found the planetary defenses to be much stronger than expected, with numerous freshly built macro cannon towers, and impenetrable defense shields protecting all it's strong points. The Crusade settled in for a siege, but that night Cetabel appeared in Quintus Arkanaus' chambers, killed his mistress and splashed her gory remains all over Quintus and his bedroom, and then offered Quintus the choice between a similar violent death, or betraying the False Emperor and joining the Crusade of Endless Joy by shutting down the defenses, in exchange for six days and six nights of the unearthly pleasures of Slaanesh. Quintus was a weak man, and Cetabel knew just how to play him. Quintus probably imagined that he would somehow become one of the noise marines, or at least a champion of the cultists, after betraying his world to the Crusade of Endless Joy...and he was horrified when he was made into a Chaos Spawn when his six days and six nights of pleasure came to their end. Quintus is the fleshy human-looking Chaos Spawn, with spikes sticking out of his back, and sword blades coming out of his mouth and arm. * Former Aspiring Champion Veccio, who once led the white-and-purple-themed chainsword&bolt-pistol assault squad. Veccio had been with the Crusade of Endless Joy since it's rebellion during the heresy, but had always been overshadowed by Octavius and Telamio, and so was relegated to leading the assault squad. Many years ago, when the Crusade of Endless Joy was fighting their protracted campaign against the Blood Ravens, Veccio's squad was at a pivotal point near the center of a battle. His squad was holding the critical objective, and he had just slain the sergeant of a Blood Raven tactical squad that had charged him. As his 7th edition duty to Slaanesh required of him, he had issued a challenge to the Blood Raven sergeant, and so he was eligible for a Boon of Chaos upon slaying his challenged foe. The rest of his squad had fared poorly, and Veccio was about to be overwhelmed by the remaining Blood Raven tactical marines. Slaanesh saw his plight, but did not see fit to reward him with apotheosis or other desirable gifts of chaos, for getting himself into such a position. But she did see that the battle was at stake, and that Veccio needed MOAR chainswords if he was to prevail over those tactical marines. The dice rolled, manifesting the will of Slaanesh, came up snake-eyes, and Veccio was made into a Chaos Spawn as the Chaos Boon Table demanded! Veccio led the remnants of his squad to victory over the Blood Raven tactical marines who had nearly overwhelmed them, the central objective was held and the battle was won, for the Glory of Slaanesh! Veccio is the Chaos Spawn with 12 chainswords coming out of his mouth and hands, with 6 shiny black insect eyes spread around all sides of his head, his flesh gone mad like Tetsuo from Akira bursting out of his still-white-and-purple themed power armor like the assault squad he used to lead. Recent History After taking command of the Crusade, Lord Telamio was careful not to repeat the mistake of his predecessor, and rededicated himself and his followers to the tireless pursuit of Slaanesh's will, trusting that s/he would reward them appropriately. Accordingly, when Cetabel the Herald told him that they were to aid Abbadon's 13th Black Crusade, Lord Telamio was excited to take part in what might finally begin the downfall of Terra and the Imperium! A psychic message through the warp of fealty, friendship, and service to Abbadon was answered with a command to raid and conquer around the edges of the Cadian sector, to occupy Imperium forces and keep them from joining the battle for Cadia itself. To this end, the Crusade of Endless Joy was successful: engaging and destroying numerous Astra Militarum regiments, disrupting local commerce, forcing all the planetary governors in the subsector to beg for reinforcements, and eventually two companies of Blood Ravens were called to pursue and destroy the Crusade and their strike cruiser, the Endless Joy. After several years of engagements, feints, and inconclusive battles, including the glorious news of the fall of Cadia and the formation of the Cicatrix Maledictum, the remaining Blood Ravens were finally forced into a trap and destroyed. The Crusade looted their relics and armories, took a small number of highly prized Astartes slaves, including their store of gene seeds, took their damaged void ships under tow, and returned in Triumph to the Eye of Terror to rest and refit. Slaanesh gave them several months to get back to top fighting shape after so long a campaign, including using the captured gene seeds to created new astartes who will replenish the ranks of the Crusade in a decade or two of real time, before s/he sent the herald Cetabel to tell them they were needed in the Hades sub-sector, to play some as-yet unexplained part in the newest Chaos scheme.